The use of belted electronic components (resistors, disc capacitors, diodes, etc.) has become in recent years one of the most convenient handling techniques for the electronics industry. The leads of components are prestraightened and generally aligned and equally spaced on the belt so that they may be fed directly into insertion machines or testing devices without intermediate handling. However, the speed and efficiency of subsequent operations using belted tapes is reduced and complexity is increased when the components are not precentered on the taped belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,021,292 discloses a taped belt electronic component centering device in which spring-loaded fingers center electronic components that are being fed by a conveyor to a component taping means, and the component opens the centering fingers. A problem sometimes arises when components having delicate leads and/or small diameter bodies engage these centering fingers. To wit, the spring closing force of these fingers is strong enough to either bend some of the leads or the body rides up on the fingers and thus is not centered by them.